Home sweet home for Greyhounds (6 photos)

After a tough stretch of road games in recent weeks, the Soo Greyhounds opened up a five-game homestand on Wednesday night.

After playing six of their last seven games on the road, the Greyhounds returned home to beat the Sudbury Wolves 8-3 in Ontario Hockey League action at the Essar Centre.

“We moved the puck well and there were a lot of looks at the net,” said Greyhounds Coach Sheldon Keefe. “We didn’t hit the net a whole lot but we moved it well. We managed to get eight goals despite not finishing our chances and not hitting the net so there were a lot of good things offensively.”

Justin Bailey paced the Greyhounds offensively with two goals and an assist in the win.

“It’s clear he likes playing against Sudbury,” Keefe said of the veteran forward. “In his first game with us (also against Sudbury), he was dancing and he was dancing again today. He scored a couple of good goals and had chances to score more. Sometimes games like this are good for guys’ confidence. They start to feel it and hopefully it carries over to the weekend.”

Jared McCann also had a three-point night with a goal and two assists. Bryan Moore and Nick Ritchie chipped in with a goal and an assist each while Blake Speers, Tim Gettinger and Jean Dupuy also scored.

Joseph Raaymakers got the start for the Greyhounds and stopped 19 shots.

“This is a really hard game to play,” said Keefe. “You’ve got two teams on the opposite end of the spectrum here. For us, it’s our eighth game in 14 days and coming off long trips. It’s a tough game for us to get through and I’m just glad we got through it.”

The Greyhounds had spent nine of the last 13 days on the road prior to returning home after Monday’s victory in Sarnia.

“It’s been a tough grind on the schedule for us,” Keefe said. “In the last two weeks we’ve had two practices. It’s been a really weird chunk of our schedule. We’re just going to move past this game and look forward to the weekend.”

Troy Timpano stopped 19 shots before being pulled after the seventh Greyhounds goal. Samuel Tanguay came in and stopped 10 of 11 shots in the final 24 minutes of action.

Jeff Corbett, Charley Graaskamp and Matt Schmalz scored for the Wolves. Pavel Jenys and Kyle Capobianco had two assists each for Sudbury.

“We played so loose in our d-zone coverage and (the Greyhounds) are maybe the best team (in the OHL) at buzzing around,” said Wolves Interim Coach David Matsos. “Our missed assignments and attention to detail defensively wasn’t near good enough. (The Greyhounds) were missing the grade-A scoring chances. They were shooting for corners. You can’t come in and play a team that loose in your own end.”

“(On Thursday) the video we’re going to show is going to be all d-zone coverage and I bet you I’ve got 25 negative clips,” Matsos also said. “It can’t be like that. You’ve got to respect an opponent like this. We were just really loose in our zone.”

With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 43-11-0-2 while Sudbury falls to 9-44-1-1 and are officially eliminated from OHL playoff contention.

The Greyhounds return to action on Friday night when they host the North Bay Battalion in a 7:07 p.m. start. The homestand continues on Saturday night when they host the Kitchener Rangers.

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OTHER SCORES

In Windsor, Alex Nedeljkovic made 42 saves as the Plymouth Whalers beat the Windsor Spitfires 3-1. Sonny Milano had a goal and an assist offensively for the Whalers while Connor Chatham and Will Bitten also scored. Markus Soberg had the lone goal for Windsor. Spitfires goaltender Alex Fotinos made 32 saves.

(PHOTO: Soo Greyhounds forward Tim Gettinger is flanked by two Sudbury Wolves players during a game February 18, 2015 at the Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. Gettinger scored one goal in the 8-3 win over the Wolves. Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday)